Is the shift to permanent housing making L.A.’s homelessness problem even worse?, By Doug Smith, August 15, 2016, Los Angeles Times: “As Los Angeles grapples with the nation’s worst homelessness problem, experts have almost universally embraced permanent housing as the best approach for lifting people out of homelessness. The strategy is to quickly re-house those who are able to live independently, and to provide housing with intensive on-site services for chronically homeless people for as long as it takes them to become independent, or for life if needed. But the shift toward permanent housing has had a cost: As money has been directed away from programs that combine services with shorter-term housing, the region’s homelessness problem has gotten worse…”
Tag: Chronic homelessness
Criminalization of Homelessness – Colorado
- DU report finds Colorado cities spend millions arresting the homeless, By Tom McGhee and Katy Canada, February 16, 2016, Denver Post: “Denver spent more than $750,000 enforcing ordinances that target homelessness in 2014, a high price tag that has done little to alleviate a problem so apparent on city streets, a new report concludes…”
- Report: Homelessness citations cost Colorado cities millions of dollars, By Nathaniel Minor, February 16, 2016, Colorado Public Radio: “The ‘criminalization’ of homelessness has cost six of Colorado’s largest cities at least $5 million from 2010-2014, according to new numbers from the University of Denver’s Homeless Advocacy Policy Project. The report says laws that criminalize panhandling, camping and other activities associated with being homeless are not the right approach to dealing with the issue…”
Oregonian Series on Homelessness in Oregon
Our Homeless Crisis: A close look at homelessness in Oregon starts this weekend, By Anna Griffin, January 16, 2016, The Oregonian: “This weekend, we’ll publish the first story in a project that started last spring with a question, one readers ask anytime The Oregonian/OregonLive.com writes about poverty, panhandling or illegal camps: Is homelessness worse in Portland, or does it just feel that way? To find out, reporter Anna Griffin interviewed national experts, elected officials, nonprofit organizers, advocates for the poor, social workers, police officers, doctors, volunteers and dozens of men and women who are either homeless now or recently got indoors. She and visual journalists Thomas Boyd and Dave Killen visited shelters, soup kitchens, day centers and illegal homeless camps. In all, they interviewed more than 100 people. They’re still reporting – and want your input. The answer about Portland is as complicated as the reasons people end up on the streets…”